


Farmers' Market

by lovetodanceandshout



Category: The Book of Mormon - Ambiguous Fandom, The Book of Mormon - Parker/Stone/Lopez
Genre: Canon Compliant, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, I don't know how else to tag this, I got the idea for this at a farmers' market with my sister, Kid Fic, M/M, One Shot, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:54:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26590981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovetodanceandshout/pseuds/lovetodanceandshout
Summary: Connor sighed, “we’ve gotten so good at handling the homophobia, but how are we supposed to protect our kids from that hate? They’re opened up to so much more difficulty and hate just because they have two dads.”“I know,” Kevin nodded solemnly, “but we’ll get through it together. Just like we always do.”~Kevin encounters a former friend from the Missionary Training Center while out with his family, inadvertently starting an important dialogue about homophobia with his seven-year-old son.
Relationships: Elder "Connor" McKinley/Kevin Price
Comments: 5
Kudos: 47





	Farmers' Market

**Author's Note:**

> hi! i'm gonna be completely honest with you, i have no idea what this is. i had a bit of writers' block on my other two wips (the series i haven't finished and an arnaba piece), so i wrote this since it was the only thing i could find the inspiration to write. i hope you enjoy it!

Connor and Kevin didn’t often visit Kevin’s family in Utah, but when they did, they always tried to pack in as much activity as they could. So, when visiting for Mrs. Price’s birthday, the pair took a trip to a local farmers’ market along with their kids.

Kevin had separated from the rest of his family while Connor purchased some baked goods for the kids, and was browsing a clothing booth when a semi-familiar voice rang out.

“Kevin Price?”

He turned at the sound, his jaw dropping in shock, “Joseph Grant?” Lo and behold, former Elder Grant was stood before him in all his glory. Kevin had always had fond memories of his friendship with Joseph, who had been his best friend in high school. Looking back now, Kevin realized that Joseph had always been more of a crony than a friend, but it was nice to see him again regardless. 

Joseph grinned brightly and stepped forward to hug Kevin, who gladly accepted it. “I haven’t seen you in ages! Where are you living now?”

“Oh, I’m up in New York with my family,” Kevin replied, taking a step back, “how about you? What have you been up to?”

“I’m still living in Utah,” Joseph responded, “with my wife- you remember Missy White from high school? - and our kids. Four boys, two girls.” Joseph grinned proudly, the look in his eyes one Kevin recognized as his own when he talked about Connor and their kids. “And what about you? You married? Got any kids?”

Kevin nodded, his face brightening, “yeah! I’ve been married for eight years, and we adopted our son and daughter three years ago.”

“That’s great! What are their names? How old are they?”

“Our son, Nolan, is seven,” Kevin answered, pulling his phone out his pocket and pulling up a picture of two children with matching green eyes and ginger hair, “and Quinn is three. They’re off at another booth with Connor.”

“Connor? Is that like, a caretaker or something?”

Oh. _Oh._ Kevin hadn’t even processed that he was talking to one of his fellow _Mormon missionaries_. He saw Connor approaching him out of the corner of his eye, Nolan’s hand in his and Quinn sleeping in his other arm, and forced himself to paint on his best missionary smile.

“Connor is my husband,” he informed Joseph, “and here he is now!” Kevin turned to face his husband, hoping that his facial expression would convey the situation. He also managed to avoid seeing the look on his former friend’s face as he reached out and took his sleeping daughter into his arms. “Con, this is Joseph Grant. We went to high school together.” Kevin could pinpoint the exact moment that Connor grasped the situation and quickly switched back to Elder McKinley, sticking out his free hand to shake Joseph’s. 

“Connor McKinley-Price,” he smoothly introduced himself, “it’s lovely to meet you.”

But Joseph didn’t accept Connor’s outstretched hand, instead turning to face Kevin with a look of disgust on his face, “you’re queer? How could you play into the homosexual agenda? And teach these vulnerable children that homosexuality is okay?”

Within a second, Kevin was reaching into his pocket and pulling out his car keys, passing them over to his husband and speaking in a hushed voice, “Take Nollie to the car. I’ll be right behind you.” 

Nolan frowned and dropped Connor’s hand in favor of crossing his arms and looking at his dad with a stubborn expression, “but I wanna stay with you!”

“No, Nolan,” Kevin shook his head, “you need to go with Papa right now. This is non-negotiable.”

Nolan pouted and shook his head again, wrapping his arms around Kevin. He had unfortunately inherited his father’s stubbornness. Connor sighed and crouched down, prying Nolan away from Kevin and lifting him into his arms.

“C’mon, kiddo,” he said, “Dad will meet us in just a minute.”

As Connor lugged their still-protesting son away, Kevin turned back to his former friend, a serious expression gracing his typically relaxed features.

“First of all,” he began, “I don’t appreciate you speaking to me like that in front of my kids. That isn’t fair to them. Second, not every gay person claims the queer label. I personally don’t, so please don’t use it again. And finally, yes, I’m gay. I’m married to a man and we are _happy_. Our kids are happy, healthy, and loved. There’s nothing wrong with the life Connor and I lead, and I’m not going to stand by while you insinuate otherwise.”

Joseph crinkled his nose, “it’s unfathomable that those children are better off in the hands of two gays than they would be with their real parents.”

“Their biological mother is incarcerated and both of their biological fathers are unknown,” Kevin replied bitingly, holding his daughter a bit closer protectively, “so I think anyone with any semblance of common sense would disagree with you.”

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go take my kids back to our hotel so that my daughter can nap in a proper bed,” Kevin took a step forward, lowering his voice, “and tonight, when the kids are with my brother Jack, my husband and I are going to have extremely gay sex. Who knows, maybe he’ll even pull out his old missionary uniform from when he was the district leader on our mission.”

Leaving a shell shocked Joseph Grant in his wake, Kevin McKinley-Price turned on his heel and walked out of the farmers’ market.

~*~

After reaching the car and buckling a still-sleeping Quinn into her carseat, Kevin took his place in the driver’s seat and glanced back at his son, who had fallen asleep as well.

“He tired himself out complaining,” Connor informed him from the passenger’s seat as Kevin started the car, “he really is just like you.” After a moment passed and Kevin let out a little snort, Connor’s expression turned serious, “you okay?”

Kevin shrugged, “yeah, I guess. I’m used to it,” he sighed, “I shouldn’t be, but I am. I guess I can’t really expect anything different from someone I went to the Missionary Training Center with.”

“Yeah,” Connor nodded knowingly, “just because five of the guys from our mission were gay doesn’t mean most of them are.”

“Exactly,” Kevin laughed before glancing back at his son, “I’m more upset that he said that shit in front of Nollie. We’re probably going to have to talk to him about it.”

Connor sighed, “God, I’m not ready for that conversation. I don’t think I ever will be. This is the thing that people don’t talk about when it comes to being gay parents,” his face had gone a bit red as he spoke, “we’ve gotten so good at handling the homophobia, but how are we supposed to protect our kids from that hate? They’re opened up to so much more difficulty and hate just because they have two dads.”

“I know,” Kevin nodded solemnly, “but we’ll get through it together. Just like we always do.”

~*~

Upon arriving at the hotel, Kevin and Connor carried both of their sleeping children up to their room and lay them in bed to nap. The couple took advantage of the peace and quiet, Connor listening to one of his theatre podcasts in his headphones as he sketched on the hotel notepad, and Kevin responding to a plethora of work emails. Eventually, a rustling noise from the bed caught both of their attention and they both looked over to find Nolan sitting up and rubbing his eyes. The pair made brief eye contact before Kevin closed his laptop and crossed over, sitting down next to his son and brushing his messy hair out of his face.

“Hey, Nollie,” he spoke softly, “how’d you sleep?”

“Okay,” Nolan stifled a yawn as he scooted over to Kevin and cuddled up to him, looking up at him with big green eyes, “Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“Was that guy at the farm market mean to you?”

Kevin sighed softly as he took a moment to decide how to proceed. He glanced at Connor, who had moved to sit on the other bed. Connor frowned and held out his arms. Nolan clambered over Kevin and into the other bed to sit in Connor’s lap, Kevin quickly joining them so as to not wake the slumbering fourth member of their family.

“So,” Connor began tentatively, “you know how Dad and I taught you about people who don’t think it’s okay for two men to love each other and be married?”

Nolan nodded, “yeah, but they’re wrong, right? Two boys can love each other, and two girls can love each other, and boys _and_ girls can love nonbinary people, and all that stuff.”

Kevin chuckled softly as he met Connor’s eyes. That was their Nolan, no doubt. Always loving and supporting everybody no matter what. Raising him was one of Kevin’s proudest achievements. 

“That’s right,” Connor replied, the same pride Kevin felt apparent in his voice, “but that guy was one of the people who doesn’t agree with that. So he was telling dad that. Which isn’t an okay thing to do, but unfortunately it happens anyways.”

“But why does he think that?” 

“You know how Grandma and Grandpa are members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?” Kevin spoke up this time, “and all of your aunts and uncles and cousins?” When Nolan nodded, Kevin pressed on, “some people in the church use the scripture to say that being gay is wrong. In multiple religions, actually. And that man was somebody that I used to go to church with. He interprets the scripture that way.

“But that’s not how other people interpret it. And above all things, we know that God is all-loving. He loves each and every one of His children. Even if we don’t always know how to interpret the scripture, we know for certain that He loves us.”

“And sometimes,” it was once again Connor’s turn to speak, “people are going to say mean things about Dad and I. They might say them to us, or to you or your sister. But none of it is true. All you have to remember is that we love you, and God loves you, and that’s the most important.”

As Connor finished talking, both he and Kevin trained their eyes on their son, who seemed to be taking in everything that they had said. He already knew a lot of it, sure. Kevin and Connor didn’t go to any church, but they were both still religious and taught their children about God. This had just been the first time they had told Nolan about people using the scripture to discriminate. 

“Nolan?” Kevin prompted after a minute of silence went by, “what are you thinking, bud?

“I don’t know why someone would be mean to you or Papa,” Nolan spoke in a quiet voice, “all you do is be nice to everyone.”

Connor frowned and bowed his head to press a kiss to his son’s forehead, “we can’t understand everything. We just have to put out the same love and respect towards other people that we want to get in return. Okay?”

“Okay…” Nolan gave a half-hearted shrug, “can I go play with my legos now?

“Go for it,” Connor laughed, smiling as Nolan hopped off his lap and sprinted to the new lego set he’d gotten from Kevin’s parents. Kevin scooted closer to his husband and rested his chin on his shoulder.

“I have no idea how that went,” he admitted softly, “I hope we handled it right.” Connor reached out and squeezed his hand.

“We’re just figuring it out as we go,” Connor mused softly, his gaze drifting from Nolan to Quinn, “but I think they’re both going to be just fine.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! you can find me on tumblr @lovetodanceandshout, or visit allamericanangel.carrd.co to find all of my other social media!


End file.
